I’m so excited to be part of the TBR & Beyond tour for this book. Find the full tour schedule here.
About the book
Such Charming Liars by Karen McManus
Genre: Young Adult Thriller
Publishing Date: July 30, 2024
Synopsis:
The newest mystery from the author One of Us Is Lying, the Queen of thrillers, Karen M. McManus! When mother-daughter grifters set out on their final job, the heist gets deadly and dangerously personal.
For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie—except for the forty-eight hours when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in an epic divorce, and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since.
Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job—at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. And Kat has figured out a way to tag along. What Kat doesn’t know, though, is that there are two surprise guests at the dazzling Sutherland compound that weekend. The last two people she wants to run into. Liam and his father—a serial scammer who has his sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter.
Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might actually be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. Somehow Kat and Liam are the new targets, and they can’t trust anyone—except each other.
Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best.
Book Review
This is probably my favorite Karen McManus thriller yet.
This clever, funny heist novel takes readers deep into a privileged world of wealth as a private 80th birthday party attracts scammers of all types.
Kat and Liam met years ago, when their parents’ ill-fated Vegas union ended after only a weekend when one parent’s carelessness resulted in both children wandering lost for hours. Now, they’re both at the same party, each for unsavory reasons. Liam’s attending as his dad, Luke, is dating Annaliese, a wealthy member of the Sutherland family. She’s the latest target in his series of romance scams. Kat’s there because her mother, Jamie, is doing one last job for a jewel thief they’ve been working for, posing as wait staff.
But things start to go awry right away, when Jamie gets sick, the fake jewels Jamie brought get stolen, and a Sutherland unexpectedly ends up murdered. Kat’s not sure what really happened, but the murderer seems to be targeting her next. She, Liam and young, handsome Augustus Sutherland end up on a team trying to unravel the layers of deception surrounding this party.
This well-plotted novel kept me turning the pages as the whip smart twists kept coming. There’s schemes within schemes, and the final answer to how everything is connected is brilliant. What a fun romp through a glitzy world!
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and TBR & Beyond Tours for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
About the author
Karen M. McManus is a #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult thrillers. Her work includes the One of Us Is Lying series, which was turned into a television show on Peacock and Netflix, as well as the standalone novels Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, You’ll Be the Death of Me, Nothing More to Tell, and Such Charming Liars. Karen’s critically acclaimed, award-winning books have been translated into forty-two languages and have sold more than eight million copies worldwide.
Need more to read? Find all of my young adult recommendations here.
